UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA

PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN VOKASI

BIDANG STUDI ADMINISTRASI DAN BISNIS
PROGRAM STUDI ADMINISTRASI ASURANSI DAN
AKTUARIA

ESAI INDIVIDU

MEDIA CONTEST DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC IN INDONESIA

oleh
Ferdiansyah Nur Syahbana
2106645071

diajukan untuk memenuhi nilai Ujian Akhir Semester pada mata kuliah
Bahasa Inggris

Depok
Tahun 2021
 Media Contest during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

The information present in the media today often creates confusion for the
general public. Every media is competing to present information often influenced
by various interests. Meanwhile, the government is also trying to provide news
to provide knowledge, understanding, and certainty in the community, so that the
community has a handle on accurate information.

Currently, almost all countries in various parts of the world are

experiencing a pandemic covid-19 The invisible virus has claimed lives in more
than 181 countries, with the number of more than 10,275,481 people infected.
The death toll has reached 505,071 people, and 5,577,055 patients recovered
(Worldometers, 2020). World The Health Organization (WHO) has declared the
COVID-19 virus a pandemic because it occurred very fast spread of the virus.

The United States is currently the epicenter of COVID-19 with a total

number of 2,637,241 cases, 128,438 deaths, and 1,093,545 recovered patients.
Then, in the rankings second followed by Brazil with 1,345,470 cases, 57,659
deaths, 733,848 patients recovered. After that is Russia with 641,156 cases,
9,166 deaths, and 403,430 recovered patients. In Indonesia alone, there are
currently 55,092 cases, 2,805 deaths, and 23,800 recovered patients
(Worldometers, 2020). This number will continue to grow if there are still many
violations what every citizen who ignores health protocols and ignores against
orders from the government.

In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media is the closest thing to
Public. Through smartphones, the public can access news about COVID-19 by
very easy and then become the daily consumption of information people. As a
result, The frequency of media with headlines regarding the COVID-19
pandemic is high. Hashtags about Covid-19 in electronic media through the
website also ranks first in the search. Massive television media also provides
news about COVID-19 for 24 hours hours in one day. In a short time, the covid-
19 pandemic has turned the media into one of the social institutions that are at
the point of crowding.
 The media does not only interact with one institution, but also interacts
with various institutions outside of it. Media will interact with government,
society, and market. Pierre James (1990) in this case interprets the government
as the embodiment of country; the community as an audience community who
becomes the communicant in the process mediated; and the market as a meeting
place for supply and demand. James argued that the process of capitalizing
information resulted in the media being more pro-market interests. Pragmatic
interests like clickbait are often the top priority in supporting the process of
capitalizing information for the media.

It should be realized that the media in addition to having a vision and

idealism is also moving to get profit oriented. The number of media that exist
today seems to create contest arena. For the fastest media in presenting news, he
is the one who gets the heart of the audience Public. Whereas, when prioritizing
speed without regard for the truth through the cross check process on the main
source will actually be a boomerang for the media alone.

One of the media that is in the spotlight in this essay is The Telegraph. In
the The Telegraph media contains many informative articles about the COVID-
19 pandemic, but with the use of language that actually evokes fear, like for
example in describing the field scene in Wuhan.

“Patients wearing masks fainted on the street; Hundreds of residents who

terrified lined up fainting in the street; Hundreds of terrified citizens lined
up close together, risk infecting each other; In the narrow hospital corridor
when they wait to be treated by a doctor in protective clothing; A medic
shouting frantically” (Conversation, 2020).

The choice of words used indicates intentional use of choice too many
words to win people's hearts. The purpose of the choice of words is to build the
curiosity of readers (clickbait), so that readers too will quickly read the content.
This can harm the readers because potentially infodemic. Arousing media
coverage of covid-19 Fear is far more dangerous than the COVID-19 pandemic
itself. As stated by Hermin (Webinar Fisipol UGM, 7 April 2020) that at the
same time With this covid-19 pandemic, people are also faced with the problem
of information outbreaks (infodemic). The overwhelming amount of information
bombarding people actually makes it difficult for the community identify which
information is correct and which offers a solution for face this pandemic.
Problems like this infodemic are sometimes more terrifying than the virus itself.

Supposedly, the media has a function as stated by Laswell (McQuail,

1975). The function of the media is to provide information that is out of reach
Public; perform the selection, evaluation and interpretation of information. Inner
media function the evaluation and interpretation of information apparently has
not gone well because there are still many media that tends to make news that is
scary, to the point of unrest Public.

Reported from the Kominfo website, the Minister of Communication and

Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G. Plate stated that as many as 554 hoax
news or false information about The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across a
number of media platforms (Kominfo, 2020). Currently, almost All media are
flooded with information about Covid-19. The speed of information flooding
media can be seen by using the keyword "covid-19 or corona virus" often occupy
the top searches. The content of the news also tends to be different from the
news headlines culminate in bombastic coverage of the topic but the content is
not substantive. With writing bombastic titles, the media often overrides the
quality of news content. Media only after something populist and clickbait to
support the process commercialization of the media industry. The media then
competed just to be the best the fastest, most up-to-date information on the
COVID-19 pandemic. It was proven when the media often write sentences that
provoke the curiosity of readers by write persuasive headlines. The curiosity
level of the readers will be has implications for the number of “clicks and views”
in order to achieve news commercialization which sometimes occurs ignore the
quality of the news and spread more hoax news. The media is biased in interest
and creates information uncertainty among the public.

The television media also did not escape giving fear to people Public.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media has not provided
education in dealing with covid-19 This was reflected when President Joko
Widodo and Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto announced the first two
positive cases of the corona virus on March 2 then. The public is actually
presented with the terrible impact of the COVID-19 virus by how to use a
respirator mask by reporters. A respirator mask is a mask that more suitable for
construction workers or researchers to avoid gas which is dangerous. Reporters
use respirator masks to create fear ordinary people because people will
immediately interpret the dangers of the covid-19 virus through this type of
mask. Reporters should simply wear medical masks that are already used by
many people.

Then, the reporter method in reporting the covid-19 pandemic. Reporter

who Covering news about Covid-19 directly near the homes of indicated positive
patients Corona virus in Depok, West Java (Pos, 2020) even more illustrates how
the terrible impact of the Covid-19 virus. Excessive fear in this society will also
have an impact on the phenomenon of panic buying. The people then flocked
buy basic goods with an unreasonable amount as "ammunition" in the face of the
time of the covid-19 pandemic. As a result, all antiseptics, masks, and hand-
sanitizers immediately sold out in the market. The behavior and mindset of this
community is one of the impacts from the news of the covid-19 pandemic which
actually aroused fear.

The phenomenon that occurs above is very closely related to the spiral
theory of silence. This theory states that minority groups tend to be silent or do
not dare express their opinion for fear of isolation. Minority groups will always
follow the opinion of the majority group, so that the minority is drowned in his
silence on the majority (Noelle-Neumann, 1983). The spiral of silence theory
emphasizes that when one has opinions on various hot issues discussed,
minorities will feel silenced because they have doubts and afraid to express
opinions. The government states that there are cases of corona in Indonesia, but
some people agree and some doubt it. They are doubtful insisting that Indonesia
is free from corona. However, when the government officially announced that
there were positive cases of corona, panic in the community ensued.
 Poor coordination is also seen between the central government and the
government province and region. Poor communication is seen when each region
carry out their own policies because the central government has not provided
certainty in decide on a policy. The government at that time seemed relaxed in
responding The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the country. When
the number of the spread of Covid-19 high, the government has just begun to
revise the policies carried out by the regions. For example, the DKI Provincial
Government which has made a policy of restricting public transportation, then
the central government recently revised the policy. This indicates that the
government has not been united in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Survey conducted by Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) together with survei

institutions The Indo Barometer shows a high level of public concern about news
of covid-19, which is 68%. The data is divided into two, namely 21.3% feel very
afraid and 46.7% felt quite worried. One of the reasons is the news media that
seem scary and do not educate the public, causing confusion and unrest in the
community. Public trust in news conveyed by the media as a communication
institution will decrease due to information bias less factual. News production by
the media can change the atmosphere of society get confused and scared.

In this regard, the public will find pro and/or contra attitudes in respond to
news conveyed by the media. A rational society will do check and balance in
reading a news. This model society usually usually will be very wary of
provocative titles to avoid a hoax. Building a rational mindset is the right choice
in the current infodemic era considering the many provocative news circulating.
For example, a bank employee who infected with the covid-19 virus. The media
will immediately highlight the place where the agency is people who have been
diagnosed with COVID-19. However, upon further inspection, it turned out that
the contents of the news this is a positive rapid test result.

It is different with the type of society that puts forward the spontaneous
and sensory nature. This type of society will usually accept something raw or
spontaneous and raises that the government has not carried out the handling of
the COVID-19 pandemic by good. As a result, people who are already blind
minded as a result of media coverage will always be against the government or
blame the government. Kominfo conducted research that there are 43,000 sites in
Indonesia that claim to be portals news, but less than 300 have been verified as
official sites (Kominfo, 2020). People who do not pay close attention to the site
will have various assumptions-type. Assumptions that are built as a result of
reading unofficial news will actually lead people to confusion and unrest.

Conclusion

The contestation of communication media in the era of the information

industry should still refer to on ethics and wisdom, especially in presenting
information about a pandemic outbreak covid-19 The public needs correct
information on the development of the COVID-19 pandemic as a guide to foster
new awareness in tackling the spread covid-19 The government and the media
should work together to create an information portal affordable and accurate for
the community.
 REFERENCES

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